Celie’s Identity In Alice Walker’s The Color Purple

Alice Walker is an African-American writer. Most of her novel deals with the experience of every black people’s life. The Black people are universally considered as a slave in their own society and this paper describes Alice Walker’s The Color Purple which typically portrays the oppressed black women’s social identity. It carefully explores the women’s position in America and especially points out the protagonist of the novel, Celie’s identity, and oppression. It is written in epistolary form. At the beginning of the novel, Celie writes a letter to God. It is like a diary format. In this technique explores Celie’s inner thoughts, feelings, etc. Walker writes the whole novel in her point of view because it is an autobiographical one.

Alice Walker is one of the most prominent figures in American. She is entitled as the feminist and womanist writer. She is equally a poet and novelist. Her historical writings represent the notably excellent point out the Back people’s social life and experience. Womanism represents the most generous term coined by Alice Walker. Womanism represents the fundamental freedom of Black people’s social life. She is called the feminist and womanist writer. She is equally described as a “Womanist” because she provides the clarity of Black people’s independence. Alice Walker said,

I am preoccupied with the spiritual survival, the survival whole of my people. But beyond that, I am committed to exploring the oppressions, the insanities, the loyalties and the triumphs of black woman… For me, black women are the most fascinating creations in the world.

This exclusive interview mentions Black women identity. This is typically not the most satisfied one, because she equally has the possible experience of the Back Society. This is not the easiest one, because she also has the experience of black society. Her novel The Color Purple is the best one in the world.

Revolutionary Petunias and other poems represent the most satisfactory one. It typically won the “Lillian Smith Award” of the Southern Regional Council. Her novel The Color Purple is the best one in the social world. Alice Walker’s The Color Purple is an important one in the 1980s because it gives the rebirth of black people. Black cultural nationalism and the Women’s liberation movement both is the same and it is coming under the sum brilliant ideas. Alice Walker said thoughtfully. Black cultural nationalism and the Women’s liberation movement both is the same and it is coming under the same ideas.

Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, and Toni Cade Bambara are the best writer in the 1970s and 80s. They are fully concentrated on Black people’s identity, suppression, freedom, etc. These themes peculiarly represent point out their novels. It traditionally gives the ecological awareness of Black Society, so they are overcome their social struggle easily. Concentrated most of the African-American woman writers are typically creating a woman character in very hard. They point out all the Black Women. They are treated like an animal in society. They are called imperfect women in the world because of their color. They are handled as an animal in society. But the emerging generation came, the women require their neutral rights, so they are improving their voice very proudly and eagerly. This is a great impact of the Black Society.

Alice Walker’s The Color Purple also coming under this category, it gives the great images of Alice Walker. It won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award in 1983. It is composed in epistolary format. Most of the time, it takes place in Georgia and it focuses on the life of African-American women’s struggle and their position in the southern United States.

The Color Purple, Celie represent an uneducated Black woman. So she takes care of her sister. She is violated by her step-father. Her devoted mother has typically died. Therefore, she takes care of her sister. But her father typically called Pa, always misused her. It is naturally not a new one because every Black woman typically has to encounter these social problems. They are not living lavishly and independently. They are suppressed, buy the male, and dominate society. They undoubtedly lost their cultural identity in very clearly. They are never expressing their pleasant feelings. Most of them considered the Black women are traditionally allowed slave; they do not express their familiar feeling. Periodically they want to express their identity, suddenly punished by her husband, father, and brother. After that she forced to marry another clever man, Mr.__ He represents a cruel man. He is, moreover, a married person and widower. Celie doesn’t like to marry but unfortunately, her father punches her, so automatically she married a man. First, she is restricted to study and restricted to marry whomever she likes.

In the effective beginning of the novel Celie writes a letter to God, she does not enjoy any influential friends, charming sister, father, etc.. She has one and only younger sister Nitte, but she does not realize her feelings. So she carefully plants to write a letter to God. Most of the time, Celie get a lot of fear to produce because she enjoys a one and only freedom to write. In America, the Black people are considered as an object, when the feminist movement began, after that, they are treated as people, not a slave. In America, the Black people are considered as an object, when the feminist movement began, after that, they are considered as people, not a slave. This is typically a significant impact of Celie’s social life. Mr. Alfonso said, “she is big and ugly” but the reality is she is black. Most of the Black women feel that “White women liberation did not challenge this sexist-racist practice, they continued it.”(Hooks; 1982:8)

Shug Avery represent a successful one of the most significant character, first of all, she, Celie. But later some typical days, she cherishes her because Celie treats carefully Shug as a precocious child. This habit is charming her. She lasts her identity in every time, but this scene gives the growth and power of her identity. Shug retains an extraordinary role to instantly regain Celie’s social identity and economic freedom. She constantly supports her. Celie represents a Black girl. Therefore, she does not experience the vision of society after independence. First, she hesitates all the thing, but after only she realizes her freedom.

Sofia equally receives a significant part of her life. She represents a daughter-in-law of Celie’s alive husband’s legitimate son. She marries Hope, but Hope does not provide any fundamental freedom to Sofia, so, she runs away from him. This historical character equally gives a social awareness of Celie to typically recover her unique identity in the American society because no one can scarcely be controlled by Sofia, may be any of them commanded her she acts like a wealthy man. Mostly, she wears a pant like a man and doing man’s work. These two memorable characters are transmitted the social awareness of Celie’s social identity.

Nettie equally maintains a significant role because Celie’s brilliant writings are not cleared, Nettie helps to give the economic rebirth of her modern education. Before these incidents she does not have any identity, She is like a slave, cook, cleaner, etc. but after that, she has to face all the problem with the help of her friends and sister. And the final scene explores her identity very positively. In the first she lost her identity, so she realizes her mistake and then overcomes the racism and sexism in her life. And then she runs a garment and builds a good image in the society.

This academic paper points out the Black women especially Celie’s social life, cultural identity and social development in the democratic society. And my specific point of optimistic view, The Color Purple typically gives the economic rebirth of Celie’s identity and personal problems. Celie has in common struggled against the color, specific gender, communal violence, identity, economic freedom in throughout the successful novel; she represents an extraordinary example of African-American women because she searches for her personal identity.

Critical Analysis Essay of ‘Everyday Use’ by Alice Walker

For one, training can enable individuals monetarily and thusly substantially. Dee’s training rewards her with the ‘decent things’ she has wanted since she was a tyke: gold hoops, a camera, and shades. The advantages of instruction additionally stretch out past simply material ones: training helps Dee change socially and profoundly. For instance, Dee’s instruction encourages her to defeat her disdain towards her past and family. Mother acknowledges Dee’s instruction for the adjustment in her demeanor toward Maggie, whom she recently loathed. Not exclusively does Dee’s training mend a portion of her connections, but it likewise enables her to challenge social standards. Specifically, Mother acknowledges Dee’s training for her doubting of and protection from bigotry. A case of this is Dee’s newly discovered way of life as ‘Wangero,’ which she sees as a method for subverting supremacist history, and is fashioned through her insight and investigation of African culture.

In any case, despite these unmistakable advantages, Walker’s frame of mind towards education isn’t consistently positive. Despite what might be expected, Walker proposes numerous manners by which Dee’s training, and instruction as a rule, may be unsafe or insufficient in helping other individuals. While Dee accepts that her grip on her African roots and the African name ‘Wangero’ is a type of protection from bigotry, her recently discovered personality seems to be a liberal, scholarly exercise when appears differently about her family’s day-by-day experience of vicious, severe prejudice. Dee’s freedom does little to help lift her morale; her new style of African dress, for instance, can’t prevent white men from harming the neighbor’s dairy animals, as Mom notes happened just as of late. So while Dee has maybe enabled herself, her activities have done little to change bigot conditions for other African Americans.

Be that as it may, in addition to the fact that Walker suggests that Dee’s instruction may be inadequate in authorizing important change, she likewise infers that Dee’s training, somehow or another, effectively hurts her family. Mom portrays Dee’s demeanor towards her family after she ends up being taught as a type of brutality and mistreatment in itself. As indicated by Mother, Dee was ‘constraining words, lies, other people’s propensities, entire lives upon, sitting caught and unmindful underneath her voice, consumed us with a ton of information we didn’t need to know.’ Through her training, Dee has built up the apparatuses to hurt her family and make them feel sub-par compared to her. Walker even associates Dee’s training with the flame that torched their home. When she utilizes ‘consume,’ Walker appears to indicate that Dee and her training damage her mom and sister simply like the flame did. The way that Dee’s training does not support her family, but instead damages them, negates the normal buzzword that capable people unavoidably escape destitution and after that, their prosperity reinforces their locale and family. Walker, by modifying this desire, is by all accounts composing against it, inferring that teaching just select people is once in a while compelling in lifting whole networks. As opposed to her criticism of formal instruction, Walker introduces an elective arrangement of learning: understanding. She brings out the qualification between the two frameworks during the contention over the blankets when Dee more than once expresses that her family does not ‘comprehend’ the estimation of the blankets, the most ideal approach to utilize them, and their legacy. This declaration is exceedingly amusing because Dee is the person who can’t get a handle on what genuine legacy implies. By rehashing ‘comprehend,’ Walker attracts thoughtfulness regarding the contrast between understanding and formal instruction. She suggests that, while formal instruction might be progressively esteemed in the public eye, it can’t compensate for the powerlessness to associate and identify with others. To Walker, understanding is an arrangement of learning that individuals like Mother can have, paying little mind to their degree of formal training. She appears to accept that without seeing, even very taught individuals will experience the ill effects of gigantic vulnerable sides in their capacity to frame important. 

Alice Walker’s Poem ‘Everyday Use’ and Its Relation to the Poem ‘Women’: Literary Analysis Essay

In Alice Walker’s poem ‘Women’, she dissects women’s important roles during the post-Civil Rights era. Walker depicts women as stout of step, strong, and leaders. Walker lets others know that women, black women, are independent people, who do a lot to keep things in the African American communities. Alice Walker depicts women as gentle but at times strong and heavy – “With fists as well as hands” – to show that women do gentle work, but there are fires that black women put out constantly to make the world better (5-6). I relate the poem ‘Everyday Use’ to ‘Women’ because it describes how mothers must tend to their children’s needs. A mother must accept the change and opposition that their child has, something only a mother would know.

For starters, Walker depicts women as those who help others fight through whatever obstacle they must climb in life. Those women who were never seen on the battleground, made those soldiers become who they are: “How they led armies/ Head dragged generals/ Across mines/ Fields /Booby-trapped ditches” (12-18). This relates to ‘Everyday Use’. Mama gets Maggie through every battle she has. Ever since the fire that occurred at their house and Maggie received burns. Mama helps Maggie build her self-confidence and helps her be herself. Mama states that Maggie has never been the same since the burns, and because Dee has had the better half her whole life, Maggie has never been a warrior. Maggie says: “‘She can have them, Mama’. She said like, like somebody used to never winning anything, or having anything reserved for her”. Maggie has never given herself the win, this one time, when Dee has no choice but to back down, Maggie puts herself up. Because of Dee, her whole life she is used to getting second, and this makes her submissive and never have self-confidence.

In addition to that, in ‘Women’, Alice Walker writes: “How they knew what/ We/ Must know/ Without knowing a page/ Of it/ Themselves” (23-27). Mothers teach, preach and tell their kids everything they need to know in life, even if they don’t know a piece of it themselves. Mothers know that education is the key to many doors. In this poem, Alice talks about how a mother, a woman, knows that for a high chance for them to succeed in life, a child must know their education. This related to ‘Everyday Use’, as Mama states: “I never had an education myself. After second grade the school was closed. Education is good you need it. Don’t ask me why”. Mama, although, doesn’t have an education herself, knows that education is good. Mama may not prefer education over basic life skills, but she knows having it isn’t a problem. That is a trait a mother and a woman have knowing something without knowing a piece of it themselves.

To add on to that, in ‘Women’, it states: “With fists as well as/Hands” (5-6) Despite the line’s shortness, it has a lot of meaning. Even though mothers and women are caregivers and lovers of society, each has their own temper and way of handling problems. When Alice Walker says: “Fists as well as hands”, she is telling women must stand in place and show their bad side, to not only show that they are not weaker than men, but can handle jobs just as well as men. In ‘Everyday Use’, it says: “‘Well’, I said, stumped. ‘What will you do with them?’”. In ‘Everyday Use’, during the whole story, Mama keeps her temper and resists the urge to say something rude. Even though it isn’t a lot, Mama had to quickly ask and put Dee in her place for being rude to her sister. Mama is a sweet and caring person, but like in ‘Women’, she has fists, as well as hands.

To conclude, Alice Walker’s poem ‘Everyday Use’ is related to the poem ‘Women’ in many interesting ways. Walker shows women’s important roles, and as some may disagree, women as stout of step, strong, and leaders. Walker lets others know that all women, especially black women, are independent people. Alice Walker depicts women as gentle but at times strong and heavy, “With fists as well as hands”, to show that women do gentle work, but there are fires that black women put out constantly to make the world a better place. Women do it all.

Literary Elements in Alice Walker’s ‘How Did I Get Away with Killing One of the Biggest Lawyers in the State? It Was Easy’

‘How Did I Get Away with Killing One of the Biggest Lawyers in the State? It Was Easy’ by Alice Walker represents the life of the viewpoint character. She allows herself to become grounded within an elaborate affair pervaded by sexual objectification as a result of aspects of her life, such as her relationship with her mother, as well as her race. The author uses literary elements such as alliteration, imagery, and juxtaposition to exhibit these events that are going on in the characters’ life.

Alice Walker uses alliteration throughout the story by including many flashbacks of what had happened to the girl when she was younger, such as getting raped when she was only the age of twelve, and recalling that her mother always brought men home. The author also uses alliteration when describing the grass as ‘springy and silky’. Alliteration was also used when the author described how Bubba’s daddy was ‘ranting and raving’ on TV. Alliteration was used in this story to focus the reader to pay attention to a particular section of the text. The sounds when reading ‘springy and silky’ can create rhythm and mood, as well as have particular connotations.

Imagery was used when the author said that the air in the girl’s house ‘blighted’ the flower. This resembles imagery because the sentence shows the audience how the flower died. The author also used foreshadowing when she used this line: “I was fourteen, but I guess I looked like a grown woman. Or maybe I looked fourteen. Anyway, the next day, he picked me up when I was coming from school and he said my Mama had asked him to do it. I got in the car with him… he took me to his law office”. That sentence hinted that the man was going to do something bad to the girl. The author uses imagery throughout the story to give vivid and also descriptive language to add depth to her work. Foreshadowing was also used to add dramatic tension to the story by building anticipation about what may happen next.

Juxtaposition was used when the author said: “So on the day he was buried I was in his house, sitting on his wife’s bed with his children, and eating fried chicken his wife, Julie, had cooked”. This sentence contrasts the difference between the man being dead and the girl being alive. The author uses juxtaposition in her writing to directly represent a character in detail, which creates suspense. Anaphora was also used when the author repeated the phrase “didn’t I know” to emphasize that the girl should know better than what she was doing with the man. The author also uses similes in her writing to help convey the narrator’s perspective on the events, herself, and other characters. The grass in front of the Capitol building is described as being “like a rug”, a simile which suggests that as a child the narrator was impressed with the softness of the grass.

The uses of alliteration, imagery, and juxtaposition in the story were very complex and made the story very memorable. The author used certain literary elements to provide the readers with more information so that they can make connections with the story. For instance, the use of foreshadowing to predict what events may take place in the story later. The ending of the story was foreshadowed numerous times through its analogies, it felt almost like a cliffhanger, but when looking back, it all added up. Overall, because of the constant use of alliteration, imagery, similes, foreshadowing, and juxtaposition, Alice executed the literary elements perfectly.

Everyday Use’ Persuasive Essay

It was early morning, the water was glistening, the wind gently blowing, and the sun was peeking out just enough to send rays of warmth throughout on a cool fall day. Imagine learning about nature in this calming clear environment. By just learning in a calm environment and having experienced the subject in person people can learn more rather than listening to someone else’s experiences or learnings which have no backing in their mind. Whether it be in life or school experience can teach people more than experience for some lessons cannot be taught only felt. Experience can range broadly in terms of content and teaches people far more than formal education could whether cultural or urban experiences as seen in an Indian father’s plea, operation conductorette, and everyday use. Authors Robert Lake, Maya Angelou, and Alice Walker demonstrate through their work that experience is more important than education by showing distinctions between the characters of each work and how these distinctions have made them each unique while showing the value of experience.

Windwolf and Maya Angelou from An Indian Father’s Plea and Occupation Conductorette are both characters who show that experience is more important than education by showing how different experiences have allowed them to learn more than formal education could teach. Maya Angelou in operation conductorette says that she had, “earned the magic formula which would make me a part of the gay life my contemporaries led,”(Angelou 85-87) only after,” learning perversity of life, that in the struggle lies the joy.” (Angelou 128) By listing out her experience in San Francisco, the author shows that despite her education and schooling experience was the only thing that helped her in real life. She showed that it didn’t matter and that society was based on norms and culture not just formal education. By showing that she only received a job after learning the tricks, she proves that experience is more important than education. Windwolf from Indian Father’s Plea also shows experience to be more important than education. For example, Windwolf was,” taught him to count and know his numbers while they sorted out the complex materials used to make the abstract designs in the native baskets.”(Lake 22) By doing so he shows that WIndwolf has “already been through quite an education compared with his peers in Western society” (Lake 6) and proves that he may even be ahead despite being different and having a more cultural education. He shows that experience can teach you the same amount as education, if not more. He also shows that it is more inclusive and can teach all people and be understood by all people or is universal showing that experience is more important than education.

Although Dee from Everyday Use makes a strong argument for education value over experience Windwolf from An Indian Father’s Plea proves my position by showing key differences in their education and how experience can cover more extensive life lessons through his culture-based experience. The author shows Dee to “read to us without pity; forcing words, lies,other folks habits,”(Walker 47) and characterizes her beliefs as “wanted nice things and had a certain style.”(Walker 51) By showing her successes and wealth the author shows that education can succeed over experience despite the amount of time spent acquiring experience and skills. She shows that education and status are more important in life and society and it is the key to success no matter the amount of experience. However, WIndwolf was able to adapt to multiple situations and gained multiple skills both in manners as well as formal education. By showing how Windwolf was able to gain skills in multiple areas with his experience rather than formal education Robert Lake shows that Dee’s education or education without experience is one-sided and therefore incomplete. He shows that only education can lead to being able to only handle certain situations He proves that experience-based learning is more important as it teaches you both.

While experience is more important than education, education shouldn’t be ignored either. Rather they should both be taken into account and integrated to create a wholesome and enriching learning experience. Too much of one thing is never a good thing and this applies to learning as well and time should be taken to assess the needs of every individual, for they are the future of society. By incorporating education and experience into learning, people will be better prepared for the future and impact the world in ways never seen before.